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Thursday, 15 November 2012

Hillary Clinton urges India to play larger role in Asia

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has lauded India as an important player in the Indo-Pacific region and has also urged New Delhi to play a larger role in the region’s affairs.
“We’ve made it a strategic priority to support India’s Look East
policy and to encourage Delhi to play a larger role in Asian
institutions and affairs. It’s exciting to see the developments as the
world’s largest democracy and a dynamic emerging economy begins to
contribute more broadly to the region,” Hillary said in her speech at
Perth’s University of Western Australia. “It’s also important to see the
burgeoning relationship between Australia and India,” she said.

Hilary, who is in Perth for high-level talks with Julia Gillard-led
government, also applauded the upswing in Australia’s bilateral ties
with the “world’s largest democracy” India. She has encouraged Australia
to increase military co-operation with India.
Hillary’s Perth speech at University of Western Australia has been
noted by the political pundits as another step towards forming of a
tripartite alliance between her country, India and Australia.
“We would welcome joint Australian-Indian naval vessel exercises in the future and we are eager to work
together in the Indian Ocean Rim-Association for Regional Cooperation
(the organisation of 19 Indian Ocean rim countries) which Australia will
chair in 2013 and which the United States has now joined as a dialogue partner,” Hilary said.

“Increasingly, these waters are at the heart of the global economy
and a key focus of America’s expanding engagement in the region – what
we sometimes call our pivot to Asia,” Clinton said while referring to
the importance of Indian Ocean in the international affairs.
Interestingly, while India figured prominently in Hillary Clinton’s
speech, China, Australia’s largest trading partner, was mentioned
briefly.

“We look for ways to support the peaceful rise of China, to support
China becoming a responsible stakeholder in the international
community,” she said.
“And (we) hope to see gradual but consistent opening up of a Chinese
society and political system that will more closely give the Chinese
people the opportunities that we in the United States and Australia are
lucky to take for granted,” Hillary added.

The US secretary
of state’s sentiment on India was shared by her Australian counterparts
too. “I’ve been an advocate and an arguer of the point of view that
India is on the rise, the strategic importance of the Indian Ocean is on
the rise,” Australian Defence Minister Stephen Smith said while
addressing an University of Western Australia audience.
US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta, meanwhile, met Australia’s Defence Minister Stephen Smith and Foreign Minister Bob Carr as a part of the annual Australia-United States Ministerial (AUSMIN) consultations.